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Second Expedition to Yakutat Bay, 
Alaska. 



RALPH S. TARR, 

Professor of Dynamic Geology and Physical Geography, 
Cornell University. 



(Reprinted from the '•Bulletin" of the Geographical Society of 
Philadelphia, January. 1907.) 






G 



\ 



> 



Second Expedition to Yakutat Bay, Alaska.^ 



RALPH S. TARR. 

Professor of Dynamic Geology and Physical Geography, 
Cornell University. 



Yakutat Bay has been visited by more geographical expe- 
ditions than any other point on the Alaskan coast, with the pos- 
sible exception of Aluir Inlet. This fact is due to two causes : 
( I ) Because the great ice plateau of the Malaspina Glacier has 
offered an excellent route for approach to Mount St. Elias by 
parties endeavoring to ascend that peak; (2) because the 
Malaspina and other glaciers have features of unusual interest 
to students of glaciers and glacial action. 

Several expeditions, having for their object the ascent of 
Mount St. Elias, have crossed the Malaspina Glacier from the 
ocean side. This was the route chosen by Professor Russell on 
his second expedition (1891) ; but on his return he skirted the 
margin of the Malaspina on both the Pacific and Yakutat Bay 
sides. In his first expedition (1890), however, Professor 
Russell made his start from Yakutat Bay. In 1897 two expe- 
ditions, one under the direction of Prince Luigi Amadeo, Duke 
of the Abruzzi,^ the other in charge of Mr. Henry G. Bryant 



» Published by permission of the Director of the United States Geological 
Survey. I take this opportunity of cxpressinp my apprecintion of the valuable 
assistance rendered me in 100.">'by Lawrence Martin and B. S. Butler; and In 
1906 by B. S. Butler. O. von Engeln, J. L. Rich and R. R. Powers. 

"The Ascent of Mount St. Ellas. By H. R. H. Prince Lulgl Amadeo dl Savolji, 
Duke of the Abruzzl, 1900. 



2 Second Expedition to Yakutat Bay, Alaska 

of Philadelphia, crossed the Malaspina Glacier from the 
Yakutat Bay side, entering at the Osar River near the mouth 
of Yakutat Bay. 

All these expeditions have contributed to our knowledge 
of the remarkable glacial phenomena of the St. Elias region, 
but none have equaled in this respect the results published by 
Professor Russell.^ One fact established by all the expeditions 
is that the ^Malaspina Glacier formed an excellent highway for 
travel, being admirably adapted to sledging, and consequently 
to the support of a party engaged in extensive exploration. 

Besides the Malaspina Glacier and its numerous tributaries 
from the high mountains, the Yakutat Bay region possesses 
many smaller glaciers, three of which descend to the bay and 
discharge icebergs into it. The largest of these, the Hubbard 
Glacier, has a much longer ice cliff rising above the fiord than 
that of the Muir Glacier. One of the published results of 
Russell's expeditions was a description of the glacial phe- 
nomena of Yakutat Bay. The Harriman expedition of 1899 
also entered the bay, and the work of Dr. G. K. Gilbert forms 
an important contribution to our knowledge of the glaciers and 
glaciation of this interesting region.'* 

My own studies in and around Yakutat Bay began in the 
summer of 1905, when I had charge of an expedition sent by 
the United States Geological Survey for the purpose of further 
investigation of the geology and physiography of Yakutat Bay 
and vicinity. The results of this expedition'^ led to a desire to 
continue the investigation westward along the base of Mount 
St. Elias, following Russell's route of 1890 for part of the 
distance, then striking westward to the western margin of 
the ]\Talaspina Glacier. The crossing of the Malaspina from 
east to west had never been undertaken, but it seemed to be 
perfectly feasible, the only possibility of failure apparently 
being on the western side, where the glacier comes down to 
the sea and forms the ice cliff of Icy Cape. Concerning this 



• Nat. Geog. Mncazlne, Vol. Ill, 1891, pasea 53-203 ; Thirteenth Annual 
Report U. S. Geol. Survey, 1891-2. I'art II. pages 1-91. 

♦ narriman Alaska Expedition, Vol. Ill, Glaciers, 1904, paces 45-70. 
»Tnrr and Martin, Bulletin Amer. Geog. Soc, Vol. XXXVIII, 1906, pages 

145-167. 



4 Second Expedition to Yakutat Bay, Alaska 

part of the glacier, I was unable to obtain definite information; 
but the rest of the route had been explored, and p>ossibility of 
failure there was not even considered. Nevertheless, owing to 
the remarkable changes recorded below, this part of the route, 
which in previous years had been so easily traversed, inter- 
posed an insuperable obstacle to the proposed crossing of the 
Malaspina Glacier. 

With a party of thirteen associates and packers, six of the 
latter Indians, I was landed on the eastern side of Yakutat 
Bay early in the morning of June 23, 1906. The first few days 
were spent in moving camp to the west side of the bay and in 
making preliminary arrangements for starting on our journey 
over the ice. As soon as this was done, I started with one com- 
panion on a reconnaissance trip of several days, to lay out in 
detail the route to be followed in packing our outfit across to 
Blossom Island, intending while this packing was going on to 
make a trip up the bay in order to complete some observations 
begim the previous summer. The route upon which we started 
was almost exactly that which Professor Russell had followed 
in 1890. }kIoreover, in the summer of 1905 I myself had gone 
over a part of the route (nearly across the Atrevida Glacier), 
and had sent two of my party, Messrs. Butler and IMartin. 
across the Atrevida and Lucia Glaciers and through Floral 
Pass to the Hayden Glacier.. Thus, in August, 1905, we knew 
this route to be a perfectly feasible one for packing, and had no 
expectation of any material change in so short a period. 

Judge our surprise, therefore, when approaching the edge 
of the Atrevida Glacier, to find that it had changed absolutely 
in a period of ten months. The margin facing Yakutat Bay, 
which in August, 1905, was moraine-veneered ice of moderate 
slope, up which we easily walked, was now a vertical ice cliff 
crowned with jagged pinnacles and cleft by deep crevasses. 
The ice tunnel from which the glacial stream had emerged 
was now further toward the sea by over a hundred yards ; the 
ice was advancing into the forest ; and the alder thicket, which 
covers the lower end of the glacier, was torn by great rents 
into which the moraine and vegetation were falling. From the 
steep ice front stones were constantly rattling down, burying 



J "-^ 'f^. 






l&i^^i^. 



Fk;. -. A . I. >\ over the inoraiiic-coverod surface of the Atrevida slacier. August 
20. 1905. Taken near middle of glacier to show an excejttional area of crevassing. then 
interpreted as due to a buried rocl< hill, hut now believed to represent a first stage in the 
great .-idvnnee which has since occurred. Compare with Fig. :!. 




Fu;. :'.. I'hotograph (with long-focus lens) to show sea of crevasses in 
Atrevida gl.icici'. I,ool<ing (>aslward across the Atrevida glacier from Terraci 
I'oint. August •-'. I'.XIC. The view in Fig. 'J wjis taken from a point ahnnf 
half way across the glacier, looking toward tlie camer.a slat Ion of Fig. ."{. f>n 
August 'JO. 1!M>.".. the only notable crevassing in tliis entire area was that 
sliowu in l"ig. 2. 



Ralph S. Tarr 5 

the forest beneath morainic debris; the ice cHff was broken by 
thrust faults; great blocks of ice were occasionally falling 
from the front, so that even an approach to the cliff was dan- 
gerous ; and the ascent of the cliff could be made only by great 
labor and with the aid of ice axes. 

Our entrance along the route which we had so easily fol- 
lowed the previous summer was thus completely cut off. Thus 
barred, we turned back in amazement which amounted almost 
to stupefaction. It seemed utterly incredible ; and, so far as I 
can now tell, such a change is entirely unprecedented. Think- 
ing that there might perhaps be some other route by which we 
could enter upon the ice, and that possibly by some roundabout 
course we might cross the Atrevida Glacier, we went the next 
day to the crest of a low mountain which rises directly above 
the eastern side of the Atrevida Glacier. From this point of 
view, which overlooked the entire Atrevida, it became evident 
that there was no route across this glacier by which we could 
hope to pack our outfit; and, in fact, it seemed probable that 
even a party unburdened could not hew its way across. 

In 1905 this glacier consisted of three parts: (i) A stag- 
nant expanded ice foot, outside of the mountains, which was 
covered with a dense alder growth; (2) an upper valley por- 
tion nearly clear of morainic debris, and only slightly cre- 
vassed; and (3) an intermediate portion of moraine-covered ice 
on which there was very little vegetation in the form of scat- 
tered alders and willows. In 1906 the clear upper portion was 
pinnacled by crevasses and melting; the intermediate portion 
was broken by a sea of crevasses into which more than half of 
the morainic veneer had tumbled, revealing the clear ice where 
in 1905 there was practically none in view; and the alder- 
covered end, a bulb-shaped area at least twice the width of the 
glacier in its valley portion, was broken by a series of concen- 
tric crevasses revealing rings of clear ice in the alder thicket. 

Over beyond the Atrevida Glacier the Lucia could be seen 
coming out of its mountain valley from the base of Mt. Cook, 
sweeping past Terrace Point and coalescing with the crevassed 
and altered Atrevida. So far as could be seen from the moun- 
tain top, the Lucia Glacier had not changed since it was crossed 



6 Second Expedition to Yakutat Bay, Alaska 

by our party in August, 1905; and later explorations proved 
this to be the case. Thus there are two neighboring and 
coalescing glaciers, one of which shows a remarkable and 
unprecedented breaking, while the other has suffered no per- 
ceptible change. 

Baffled in our attempt to follow the route chosen, we 
decided to go around the end of the Atrevida Glacier, along a 
more difficult route, up the valley of the Kwik River, the great 
glacial stream which carries the waters from the Marvine, 
Hayden and Lucia Glaciers. If this route could be followed it 
would take us along the path originally chosen, with the excep- 
tion of the first portion of it, and the larger part of that could 
be visited by a backward journey across the Lucia Glacier to 
the western margin of the Atrevida Glacier. Accordingly, 
directions were given to the packers to move the camping 
outfit to the Kwik Valley, and to carry our supplies up that 
valley to the Llayden Glacier, where we expected to be able 
to begin sledging. 

In the meantime, my scientific associates^ and I made a 
boat trip up Yakutat Bay to the head of Russell Fiord. Here 
we found a remarkable change in two of the glaciers since our 
visit the previous year."^ The Turner Glacier was in approx- 
imately the same condition as in 1905, but a small unnamed 
glacier a quarter of a mile north of the Turner had suffered a 
remarkable change. Late in August, 1905, it terminated some 
distance from the sea in a moraine-covered, apparently stag- 
nant end. It was then wholly separated from the Turner 
Glacier ; and its lower portion was completely covered by black 
shale fragments. By June, 1906, this glacier had advanced 
into the sea, spreading out fan-shaped and coalescing with the 
Turner Glacier, thus extending the continuous ice cliff of the 
Turner Glacier at least a mile to the northeast. This new addi- 
tion to the Turner Glacier ice cliff is badly crevassed, and the 
ice back of it is also broken and pinnacled ; but the surface is 
still well blackened by its morainic veneer. 

About a half mile further north is another glacier similar 

•Messrs. B. S. Bnt]pr, .T. Tj. Rich, O. von En&eln. nnd R. R. Powers. 
' For a map showlnp the Rlaclers of this bay see Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc, Vol. 
XXXVIII, 10(10, opposite p. 145. 



Ralph S. Tarr 7 

to tills one. But it has not changed perceptibly since 1905, and 
still ends some distance from the water. 

The Hubbard Glacier, the next up the fiord, seems to have 
advanced slightly, if at all ; but until we can compare our 
photographs, it is impossible to make exact statements on this 
point. Just east of the Hubbard, however, there is a glacier 
which has changed remarkably. This we named the Orange 
Glacier in 1905, and gave to it a rather careful study because 
of the fact that the morainic phenomena on its stagnant, bulb- 
shaped terminus were of unusual interest. In August, 1905, 
we walked freely over this bulb-shaped terminus and ascended 
the Orange Glacier to a distance of five or six miles from the 
sea. It has changed absolutely; the interesting concentric 
moraines are completely destroyed; the ice is profoundly cre- 
vassed ; and it was not found possible even to enter upon this 
glacier which in 1905 was easily traversed from the sea up to 
the snow line. No other glaciers in the fiord show any notable 
change. 

On our return from the trip up Yakutat Bay, we proceeded 
to the mouth of the Kwik River, up which our packers had 
been carrying provisions and necessary camping outfit, includ- 
ing a sled, which we expected to use in crossing the Malaspina. 
We found that our packers had made fairly good progress, 
having our supplies moved to the base of the Hayden Glacier. 
But the work had been difficult and necessarily slow. The 
Kwik is made by the union of two very large and swift glacial 
streams to which are added many smaller ones. It quickly 
branches and subdivides into a large number of distributaries, 
spreading completely over a broad alluvial fan. The packers 
were obliged to cross scores of these branches, some of them 
of such swiftness as to render the crossing difficult and even 
dangerous. The streams were ever changing in position and 
in depth, so that at no two trips were the conditions the same. 
Added to the difficulties of fording miles of glacial waters was 
the presence of quicksands in the lower course of the Kwik. 

The treacherous character of the Kwik River was brought 
clearly to our attention by an accident which came very near 
bringing an end to our exploration in its very earliest stages. 



8 Second Expedition to Yakutat Bay, Alaska 

The packers had cached most of the provisions and camping 
equipment near the banks of a moderately large distributary of 
the Kwik in what seemed to be a perfectly safe position. Early 
in the morning, as they approached this cache to move it 
across to the other side of the stream, they saw it tumbling 
into the river. Much of the material was saved, but a great 
deal was lost. That which we missed and mourned the loss of 
most was fifty pounds of Wilbur's milk chocolate, which we 
had taken along for luncheons when on the march. Later we 
found that this disaster was probably due to the bursting of an 
ice-dammed lake in the headwaters at Blossom Island. 

By the time we had come up with the packers, it had 
become evident that our crossing of the Malaspina Glacier was 
probably not to be accomplished. The margin of the Malas- 
pina, w^hich forms the western side of the Kwik Valley, and 
whose supply of ice is derived from the Marvine Glacier 
tributary, was found to be greatly crevassed and broken by a 
recent movement similar to that previously discovered in the 
glaciers mentioned above. This crevassing was found to ex- 
tend southwestward along the shores of Yakutat Bay, as far as 
could be seen from the mouth of the Kwik. Later exploration 
along this coast as far as Point Manby showed that the cre- 
vassing extends at least that far. It is along this ice front, 
sometimes on the ice, sometimes on the moraine in front of it, 
that Professor Russell made his retreat to the entrance of 
Disenchantment Bay in 189T. His march was made with no 
great difficulty; but at the present time such a journey would 
be entirely impossil)le. Our later visit to Point Manby proved 
that the route l)y which the Duke of Abruzzi and Mr. Henry G. 
Bryant entered upon the Malaspina Glacier, is now closed. 
The entire face of the ice is now frightfully broken and cre- 
vassed. 

\Vhere we skirted the margin of the Malaspina Glacier, 
close at hand, as we did along the western side of the Kwik 
Valley, we found that the crevassing was still in process of 
development during our visit. During many years of stagna- 
tion the ice had become buried beneath a thick covermg of 
morainic debris, forming a soil in which alder and cott.onwood 





^ ^^^ ^ ^ 







yS,~Anli-- ; 



Fk;. 4. The Dr.iime clacier from the moraine-oovered ice of the outer part of its bulb- 
lilie expansion, August 8. 1005. The view loolis across an alluvial fan l)nilt in a 
depression on tlie ice. A glacial stream emerges from a rock gorge. Kehind it rises 
moraine-covered ice. and behind that (on the left) the winding Orange glacier which 
is so smooth that we walked up to the Itend in the disliince in a half day. 




Fir,. .">. r'hologr.ipli, August 17. UMMi. from nciirl.v s:im(' i)()int as Fig. 4 
Oihout sevent.v-rive feet lower, and a few hundred yards furlher to the left). 
The Orange glacier is now crevass(Hl at least as far as tlie liend. Its moraine- 
covered terminus is very much higher and nearer. It has advanced over and 
buried tlie rock gorge, and :i stream no longer emerges at this point. Much cl(>ar 
ice is shown in the crevassed ImiIIi where a year before from this dist.iuce no ice 
whatsoever was visible through the moraine. 



Ralph S. Tarr 9 

thickets had taken root. In the spring of 1906 the alder and 
Cottonwood trees developed their leaves as usual ; but for many 
of them it was their last spring season. The forward thrust 
has broken the ice into blocks, separated by yawning chasms, 
into which large numbers of the trees have fallen. Many of 
these had the color of autumn, but none, so far as we could 
see, had failed to develop leaves before their uprooting. We 
assume, therefore, that the forward thrust and breaking of the 
ice had its beginning after the leaves were developed. 

That this part of the Malaspina Glacier was advancing 
during our visit, we had abundant evidence. Fragments of 
ice fell from the front as we passed it; the morainic soil was 
constantly sliding down the ice front and into the crevasses; 
muddy glacial torrents were developing where none had existed 
before ; again and again trees were seen to fall ; and in the 
month which elapsed between our first passage of this ice 
margin and our return, the face of the glacier was absolutely 
changed in detail. 

From a low mountain top near the eastern margin of the 
Malaspina Glacier, we were able to get a bird's-eye view of its 
eastern half, from the sea back to the mountain base. From 
here it became evident that the only chance of getting to the 
western side of the Malaspina Glacier lay in a possible route 
past Blossom Island up the margin of the Marvine Glacier, and 
thence along the mountain base to the west. There seemed 
little hope of even this, however, for as far as we could see up 
the valley of the Marvine there was a perfect sea of crevasses ; 
and from this point down to Yakutat Bay and Point INIanby 
the Malaspina Glacier was completely impassable for packing 
purposes at all points. 

We pushed on to Blossom Island across the Hayden 
Glacier, which shows no change from its condition in 1905. 
And from Blossom Island we made a trip back across the 
Hayden Glacier through Floral Pass and across the Lucia 
Glacier to Terrace Point, at the western margin of the Atre- 
vida Glacier. From this point our first observations, which 
were made on the eastern side of the glacier, were amply veri- 
fied. No one could now possibly cross this glacier with sup- 



10 Scco)id Expedition to Yakutat Bay, Alaska 

plies, although in the preceding summer there was no greater 
dilhculty in crossing it than there was in 1906 in crossing the 
Lucia Glacier. 

From the summit of Blossom Island, and from a short 
trip as far up the margin of the Marvine Glacier as we could 
go, we saw plainly that that route westward was also cut off. 
This short excursion was along the path which Russell fol- 
lowed in his first attempt to ascend IMount St. Elias. He men- 
tions no special difficulties in his way in this part of the jour- 
ney, and from the rapidity of his march, as well as from his 
description, it is evident that the conditions of to-day were 
not then present. He could not have carried his supplies up 
the margin of the Marvine Glacier, nor could he have crossed 
the glacier where he did had the conditions approached those 
of 1906. 

Our view from the summit of Blossom Island showed 
clearly not only the condition of the Marvine Glacier, but of 
the Seward Glacier where it comes out of its mountain valley 
and spreads out to join the Marvine, forming the eastern part 
of the Alalaspina ice plateau. This glacier is not crevassed to 
the extent that the Marvine is, but nevertheless it is decidedly 
broken, and from a distance looks impassable. Benno Alex- 
ander, a member of my party, was with the Duke of Abruzzi 
on his ascent of Mount St. Elias, and he states that from the 
view which he obtained from the summit of Blossom Island, he 
is convinced that the Seward Glacier is decidedly changed from 
its condition in 1896. He sledged over this route again and 
again, but, as viewed from the summit of Blossom Island the 
glacier seems now to be in such a condition as to making sledg- 
ing over it impracticable. The Seward Glacier, therefore, seems 
to be advancing, but its advance has not proceeded far enough 
to so completely break that part of the Malaspina which it sup- 
plies as the advance of the Marvine has done to its lobe of the 
Malaspina. It will be interesting to know whether this ap- 
parent advance of the Seward Glacier continues, and whether 
its effect in the next year or two is felt down to the sea. 

That there has been a remarkable change in some of the 
glaciers of the Yakutat Bay region there is no question. That 



Ralph S. Tarr ii 

this change has for the most part, if not entirely, occurred 
during the past year, is clearly proved by our comparative 
observations of 1905 and 1906, which include all the glaciers 
that have advanced, excepting the Marvine, which we did 
not actually visit in 1905. Even in this case, however, we 
examined the glacier from a distance with field glasses and 
failed to detect any notable crevassing, although in 1905, from 
the same points of view, the broken condition of the glacier 
was very evident. It is certain, too, that this change is still in 
progress, the wave of advance not yet having died out. 

The recent forward movement recorded in these glaciers 
is spasmodic and of decided extent, being sufficient not merely 
to break up glaciers enclosed in mountain valleys, but also to 
introduce crevassing in a broadly expanded ice foot which 
has been so nearly stagnant, and for such a long time, as to 
permit the accumulation of a deep morainic soil, and, near the 
margin, the growth of trees a full half century old. 

In accounting for this phenomenon the above facts must 
be explained ; and, in addition, it is necessary to account for 
the fact that, while some glaciers are thus affected, others, even 
the nearest neighbors, have not yet been influenced by the 
cause which has produced the wave of advance. Moreover, it 
is necessary to take into consideration the fact that some of the 
advancing glaciers are very small and short, others large and 
long. In seeking an explanation for these remarkable changes, 
there is, so far as I am aware, no guide from previously de- 
scribed occurrences. The advance seems to be totally different 
from those which are associated with climatic variations, by 
which a slow forward movement is caused without further 
notable changes in the glacier. 

All excepting one of the possible explanations that we 
have been able to suggest have been considered and discarded 
as incapable of explaining the facts. The single hypothesis 
against which no facts are opposed, and which seems the most 
rational explanation of the phenomenon, is that of earthquake 
effect. In the autumn of 1899 this region was visited by a 
succession of earthquake shocks of exceptional vigor, during 
which the coast line was uplifted throughout most of the area 



12 Second Expedition to Yakntat Bay, Alaska 

of Yakntat Bay, the uplift of the coast in one place having 
been more than forty-seven feet.^ During this earthquake 
the region was violently shaken not only once, but many times ; 
and, from the descriptions of eye-witnesses, as well as from 
evidences wh'ch are still apparent, it is certain that in many 
places great masses of rock were thrown down the mountain- 
sides as avalanches. There must also have been a great down 
shaking of snow and ice from the steep slopes among which 
these glaciers were fed. 

The hypothesis which is proposed to account for this 
advance of the glaciers is that during the earthquake an ex- 
ceptional mass of snow was caused to descend into the valleys 
of the glaciers in the Yakutat Bay region. This great acces- 
sion of snow supply started a marked wave of advance in the 
glaciers, which has broken up the rigid ice into the condition 
of the present, and has been sufficiently powerful to push 
forward and break up the bulb-shaped terminus of several of 
the glaciers. The reason why some glaciers do not show the 
effect of this impulse may be sought in two directions : First, 
in some cases the wave has not yet reached far enough down 
to produce the effect which has just arrived in those glaciers 
described ; secondly, some glaciers did not have the necessary 
kind of slopes and amount of snow in unstable condition to 
bring about a sudden forward movement. 

This explanation of the phenomenon as an earthquake 
result at first sight seems to demand a more rapid forward 
movement of the wave than would be expected from our 
knowledge of waves of advance related to climatic variations. 
It is, indeed, considered possible that the advance at present 
in progress is not related to the earthquake of 1899. but to 
some previous shock of equal or greater violence. On this 
point we have no facts to present ; but it should be noted that 
the wave of advance in this case is quite different from that 
observed as the result of climatic variations. This may be 
illustrated by reference to a specific case. The Atrevida Glacier 
has in nine months been completely broken from near its head 
almost down to its terminus, a distance of not less than six or 



Tnrr and Martin, Bull. Amer. Geol. Soc, Vol. XVII, 1906, pages 29-fi4. 




Fig. 6. The ice eliff (on tlie rijilit) ;il (Ik 
elacler, July 10. inOG. From this broken io' 
9f ice were constantly falling and the I'oii'sl is 



■ niarfjin of tlie Alrevida 
point stones and l)locks 
licin;; destroyed. 



Ralph S. Tarr 13 

seven miles. The entire appearance is that of a great shove 
from behind, breaking a rigid and resisting ice mass in front. 
In a wave of advance due to ordinary slow climatic variations, 
the impulse is slowly transmitted down the glacier to its end. 
But a great wave such as might be expected to result from 'a 
sudden and enormous addition of snow to the reservoir, would 
give an impulse which, applied to the resisting, rigid ice in 
front, might well cause a spasmodic crushing and forward 
movement far down the glacier, thus rapidly outrunning the 
progress of a normal wave of advance. 

Our disappointment in our failure to carry out the ex- 
ploration as originally planned, was largely overcome by our 
opportunity to study this remarkable change in the glaciers. 
We spent our time, therefore, in an examination of this phe- 
nomenon instead of in a march westward across the Malaspina 
Glacier; and when this was done we started down the valley 
of the treacherous Kwik, fording its many threads of ice-cold 
torrents, passing over its quicksands, and finally crossing the 
surf-beaten bar which guards the entrance to the mouth of 
this heavily sediment-laden river. 

Naturally, in such an expedition there were many inci- 
dents and excitements. Two of these had special bearing upon 
the expedition, since they caused the destruction of some of 
our most valuable photographic records. In the first of these, 
two of us were crossing the Kwik River alone when one 
was swept off his feet, and started on a journey in the ice-cold 
torrent toward a glacial tunnel under which the Kwik flows 
for seven miles. His companion pulled him out, but his 
camera proceeded on the journey and was never seen again. 
The second incident, lower down in the Kwik Valley, occurred 
when six of us were crossing the river together, holding to a 
stout pole in order to increase our stability in fording the 
rushing current. The man up-stream was swept off his feet, 
the next three went down like ninepins, and two of us were 
rolled on down in the icy current, where we remained for five 
minutes before, chilled to the bone, we were drawn out by one 
of the packers. One of us had the misfortune to have upon 



14 Second Expedition to Yakutat Bay, Alaska 

his back, among other things in his sixty-pound pack, the 
entire series of photographs tliat had been taken in the study 
of the Malaspina Glacier. Although supposed to be in water- 
proof packages, these were badly water-soaked and many of 
them absolutely ruined. Nevertheless, enough were obtained 
to show clearly the remarkable conditions which have been 
described. 

The Malaspina Glacier has, since its first description by 
Russell, been one of the best known glaciers and the finest 
example of a nearly stagnant Piedmont Glacier. In its eastern 
part it is no longer what it was. It has started upon a new 
life, the end of which no one can predict. It should be watched 
with care, for it has many lessons of importance to reveal. It 
will be of the highest value to students of glaciers and glacial 
phenomena to have the Malaspina Glacier made the basis of a 
study each year for the next few years, or until such time as 
the present forward movement has ceased. 




Fig 7. Margin of the Malaspiiia ulacier on tlio west side of the 
Kwik Valley, August 11, 1000. The l)i-oken hlocks are ice frasmt^nts pro- 
ducpd by the forward movement and breaking of the glacier margins. 
Note the tumbled trees (in leaf) on and in front of the jagged ice cliff. 



. j.of\i-ir\ 1 ur i-urior^too 



Iplliiiiliiiliillim Mill III iliii iii: Ijii jA 
017 297 796 ( 



